This New Women’s Sports Bar Levels the Playing Field

Nora McConnell-Johnson can recall the exact day when she came up with the idea to open a Chicago women’s sports bar. It was October 17, 2021, and she was watching game four of the WNBA finals — the Chicago Sky versus the Phoenix Mercury — huddled with other fans on the back patio of a Wicker Park bar. Not ideal, but after calling around town, it was the only place she could find to watch the game with the sound on.

“Back then, it was not only hard to find a place to watch games, but it also felt really disrespectful,” says McConnell-Johnson, a lifelong athlete and collegiate rugby player. “That was a catalyzing moment for me.” (For the record: The Sky won that game and the championship.)

Not too long after, McConnell-Johnson heard from her rugby-playing friends in Portland, Oregon, about a new place dedicated to women’s sports — the Sports Bra. Then A Bar of Their Own opened in Minneapolis where she’s from. “I was like, ‘This isn’t fair,’” she says. “Chicago should have this too.”

At 3 p.m. on Saturday, September 27, McConnell-Johnson will open Babe’s Sports Bar, a Logan Square sports bar where only women’s sports will be played on the eight flatscreens, the occasional Puppy Bowl notwithstanding.

Babe’s is part of a growing movement driven by women’s sports fans like McConnell-Johnson, who’ve been treated as afterthoughts by traditional sports bar culture, which tends to focus on men’s sports (the lion’s share of what’s televised by major networks). Since 2022, bars such as Rough and Tumble, Pitch the Baby, and Untamed Spirits, have sprung up across the United States. In Chicago, Edgewater welcomed Whiskey Girl Tavern, an LGBTQ-friendly sports bar and lounge. At the same time, women’s sports have become increasingly popular among broader audiences — both men and women — even as pay in women’s sports leagues often trails far behind men’s professional athletics.

Step into Babe’s 1,600-square-foot space with a cozy back patio, and little remains of its former tenant, Music Lounge, which closed in late 2017. In place of the drop ceiling, black walls, and curtained windows, the long room now has a funky retro vibe with a bright pink wall on one side and a wooden L-shaped bar on the other. Yellow plaid barstools complement the yellow banquette opposite them. Futuristic light fixtures hang throughout the space. Towards the back, there’s a digital photo booth from Chicago’s A&A Studios not far from a vintage scoreboard on a wall. In the bathrooms, the lighting shifts from pink to green, further highlighting the disco balls hanging from the ceiling.

“The Babe’s team loves an aesthetic,” says McConnell-Johnson, referring to a group of women who all have left their marks at Babe’s, including project manager Ilyana Schwartz of Last Call Design and Build, Leah Headd, muralist Alyssa Low, and Mo, who designed the menu. “Babe’s is like if your grandma was a basketball star and had an awesome basement.”

Babe’s drink menu includes a hibiscus pale ale beverage manager Margaux Lent created in collaboration with Marz Brewing. The five drafts will feature four local beers and a tapped prosecco. A strong wine program is in the works — think a rotating selection of a red, white, orange, and rosé, says McConnell-Johnson — available by the glass, carafe, and bottle. There will be six cocktails and a selection of nonalcoholic and low-alcohol drinks.

The bar lacks a kitchen but guests are welcome to bring in their own food and the Babe’s team will have utensils at the ready. Babe’s is working with neighboring Yaba’s Food & Middle Eastern Grill on a nightly French fry drop — a bonus snack for folks hanging around the bar. “Scofflaw does the chocolate chip cookie. There was a hotel in New Orleans that would do 10 p.m. peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” McConnell-Johnson says of the fry drop inspiration. “I love a little thing like that.”

Various trophies are on display, along with the ribbons, photos, and trading cards epoxied into the surface of the high-top tables (the handiwork of Headd); the ephemera was donated by women who answered a request on Babe’s social media and newsletter. “All these amazing women were athletes who competed at high levels, fought for what they deserved, and also maybe didn’t get to the heights that they wanted,” says McConnell-Johnson. “For a lot of the women who donated stuff, even just the act of finding them and remembering those times was really special.”

Initially, McConnell-Johnson, who worked in education policy for the Chicago Public Schools, didn’t think she was going to be the one to open a women’s sports bar. Rather, she hoped to inspire someone who had experience in the industry to take the leap and then she’d be a regular at their bar.

It was while discussing the details of her idea with her college rugby teammate, Torra Spillane, that McConnell-Johnson realized that if she wanted it to happen, she was the person to do it. It became a reality when Spillane and her husband, who live in New York, came on as partners. A crowdfunding campaign followed and raised $75,000 within a few months.

After looking at a half dozen spots, they chose the Armitage location, partially because it had already been a bar, assuming it would be a turnkey situation. But after Music Lounge closed, a moratorium on liquor licenses was implemented on the block. McConnell-Johnson met with community members who were apprehensive at first, but once she explained what Babe’s was going to be and how she was approaching it, the mood changed and the liquor license was reinstated.

McConnell-Johnson further cemented Babe’s future by meeting with the area’s alderwoman, Jessie Fuentes. “She’s a former educator, she’s also queer, and she’s a big sports fan,” says McConnell-Johnson, who saw this as a sign.

In addition to televised sports, Babe’s will have in-house programming to sync with big games. Dubbed “Between Periods,” the pregaming will provide context on what they’re about to watch, ranging from team stats and player details to insider gossip. “If it’s celebrating women athletes, we’re there,” says McConnell-Johnson.

“Women’s sports are still growing and being developed, but one of the missing pieces is the accessibility of watching it,” says McConnell-Johnson. “We see Babe’s as a real cultural space that can help facilitate growing that fandom in the ecosystem.”

Babe’s Sports Bar, 3017 W. Armitage Avenue. Open 4 p.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday; 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday; noon to 1 a.m. Saturday; and noon to midnight Sunday. Opens September 27.